Emotionless Child

That day was no different from any other day.

The mercenary company received a request from a mercenary request center in a small city to transport precious trade goods and was tasked with protecting them.

Since the trip lasted two weeks, there were many items to take care of.

The wagons, made of wood and with large wheels, were loaded with various items, including tents, food, daily necessities, and toolboxes. These were necessary because they had to camp while guarding the caravan. Eren always watched them.

He remembered what was missing from the past and compared it with their travels, and if anything was missing, he let them know.

Sometimes the mercenaries even asked questions.

For the mercenary members, Eren was indispensable. Then his parents, Anessa and Feather, approached him.

"Eren. This could be quite dangerous. You must stay by our side."

"Anessa. How long will we raise him and protect him like that? Eren is all grown up now. He needs to learn how to fight on his own."

As Anessa spoke while holding Eren's hand tightly, Feather, who was watching from the side, scolded her sternly.

"Eren! You are already fourteen years old. From now on, you must learn how to protect yourself. We cannot protect you forever. Now, take this."

Feather held out a sheathed dagger to him. The tightly sewn sheath looked quite luxurious. Then Anessa got angry and shouted.

"Feather! What are you doing?! Are you crazy? You're giving a kid some kind of knife!"

"Anessa. Other kids his age are already training with swords. We need to raise him the same way!"

"Eren is different from other children. Even Feather knows! Our child is special!"

When Anessa took a strong stance, Feather changed his approach, took a step back, and tried to persuade Anessa with a soft tone.

"Hmm. Still, we can't let him live under our shadow forever. Even for Eren's sake."

"Please."

At that time, Eren suddenly intervened.

"Huh?"

"Give me the dagger. I will learn it too."

Eren said, holding out a small hand.

The couple looked at each other for a moment. Since they couldn't sense any emotion from his words or facial expressions, they couldn't figure out why Eren was acting like that all of a sudden.

Anessa bent down and hugged Eren.

"Eren~ You don't have to do that. You will always be with us."

"Still, I'll keep it, just in case."

When Eren came out like this, Anessa had nothing more to say.

Feather took advantage of this and quickly tied the sheath to Eren's waist.

Because of his short stature, the dagger seemed very large. In fact, it was a little longer than a typical dagger.

Feather held Eren's shoulder and spoke as if asking.

"Okay, you thought about it well. You should never forget it. You should think of it as a part of your body."

"Yes."

In fact, Feather had already asked the merchant to obtain a dagger to give to Eren.

Recently, a light and strong dagger had come in, and although it was a bit expensive, Feather bought it without hesitation.

Eren had already heard the conversation between his father and the merchant clearly even from afar. He was going to have to do it someday anyway.

"Eren. No matter how dagger it is, the blade is sharp, so you must handle it carefully."

"Yes, mother."

Anessa looked at Eren with worried eyes, but quickly gave up thinking that it would be okay to keep it for self-defense. Then, she took off the necklace she was wearing and hung it on Eren. It had a small pendant with overlapping diamond shapes.

"I have always worn it like a talisman. It will help you never be swept away by misfortune. You must never lose it."

"Yes."

Still expressionless and dry in tone. But Anessa seemed to love Eren more than anyone else.

Late afternoon that day, as the sun set, the wind blew strong, and dark clouds gathered, which was unusual. It looked like it was going to rain.

The merchant and mercenary corps found a suitable open space and hurried to prepare for camping. The tent was secured and a furrow was dug.

The trade goods had already been wrapped in two or three layers of water-repellent cloth and tied with rope. Preparation went smoothly because everyone was so experienced that they would shudder at camping.

After completing all preparations and having a simple meal outside, they decided on a watch order to take a rest and then returned to their respective tents.

Meanwhile, Eren was learning how to use a dagger from Zane.

However, it was difficult for Eren, who had almost no strength, to follow the movements.

Even though it was a dagger, it was quite a burden since Eren was small. But inside, Zane was surprised. 'I can't believe he can imitate all the movements just by looking at it once... As expected, he is different.'

"Eww…."

It was when he was swinging the dagger with difficulty.

"To swing it more easily, you should hold the dagger short," Feather, who had been watching for some time, suddenly approached and moved Eren's hand holding the dagger a little higher. Then he disappeared again.

"Hmm."

As he said, Eren held the dagger short and the center of gravity was right, so it took less force. But this time, his feet started to get tangled. It seemed that Zane was moving too fast.

"There is no need to make your strides longer. Just moving your shoulders is enough."

Feather suddenly appeared again, shortened his stride, and tried to disappear. Then Zane shouted, "Captain! If you're going to do this, you should just teach him from the beginning…."

Zane frowned as Feather clenched his fist and glared. Zane shook his head and adjusted Eren's posture again.

Anessa, who was watching Feather from afar, laughed with an expression that said she couldn't stop him. Although he treated Eren in a cold manner on the outside, Feather watched him with more interest than anyone else.

"He just have to express it,"

Anessa shook her head and entered the tent.

Soon, rain began to fall, one or two drops at a time. When the sound of the rain became heavier, Feather returned to the tent with Eren.

Anessa had already spread their sleeping area evenly and laid out a blanket.

"Aren't you in too much of a hurry? He probably hasn't gotten the hang of it yet."

"I didn't tell him to do it. Zane tricked Eren," Feather looked away and spoke in passing.

"Oh, did he?"

Anessa thought she was going to say more but couldn't have known that Feather had given Zane instructions.

"Go to bed early. If you want to leave at dawn tomorrow, come here. Eren!"

"Anessa. Why don't you stop holding him like baby and sleeping with him? He's grown up and will develop bad habits."

"Okay, I'll do that starting tomorrow, son!"

Eren hugged Anessa with an expressionless expression.

He had no emotions, like a doll, but his behavior was no different from any other child. Perhaps he saw something somewhere and learned something. But that wasn't all.

To Eren's surprise, his senses did not become more sensitive in her arms. So much so that he fell into a deeper sleep than ever before.

Without his mother, Eren could not sleep well due to his sensitive senses. But today didn't last long.

Just before dawn, the darkest time of the day, a sharp sound vaguely could be heard from somewhere. Feather and Anessa opened their eyes at the same time.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes. It was definitely a scream."

It seemed that the watchdog had been attacked by assailants. The two put on their gear and drew their swords without any hesitation.

Eren was already awake. Anessa hugged Eren once and said while making eye contact, "You must never come out, understand?"

Eren nodded at her words. She kissed Eren's forehead and left. As the two went out, Eren instinctively hugged the dagger. After a while, the sound of weapons clashing and people shouting were heard all at once.

"It's an intruder!"

"Everyone, get ready for battle!"

Dang dang dang—

The bell rang frantically along with Feather's loud cry.

Eren closed his eyes with a painful expression and covered his ears with both hands.

However, people's screams and the eerie sound of flesh being cut still pierced his ears. The battle outside seemed fierce, with the constant sound of weapons clashing. How long had it been?

-Aaaah!

Eren opened his eyes. The moan he just heard was clearly Anessa's voice.

Among the numerous sounds, Eren accurately identified her voice. Eren stood up, looked down at his dagger, and as if he had made up his mind, he unhesitatingly pulled down the tent flap and headed outside.

Inside the tent, only a sheath for a dagger lay around.